1) Why is it when you click 5 stars on the contest articles, only 3 stars show up?

2) On the recent poll: Am I the only one who doesn't know who any of those characters are? Are they from movies, TV, books, or comic books? I don't think I know who any of them are. Maybe placing beside them where they appeared might help.

1) If an article has zero stars, none, nada, starless, and I click on five stars, then why does the article then show only three stars? I have clicked on a number of zero starred stories and only three stars are shown. I understand the average; so if one person clicks five stars on a story that has zero stars, then the average is three? I should have asked it this way orginally.

2) Still doesn't help. lol. I know only two of the authors and it's been at least thirty years since I read anything by those two. Heinlein and Foster.

3) Since Gary has topics going concerning Koontz and King, maybe it would be fun to use a "favorite characters poll" from their books. Or "favorite book poll" by the authors. Something like that. Just a suggestion.

1) If an article has zero stars, none, nada, starless, and I click on five stars, then why does the article then show only three stars? I have clicked on a number of zero starred stories and only three stars are shown. I understand the average; so if one person clicks five stars on a story that has zero stars, then the average is three? I should have asked it this way orginally.

2) Still doesn't help. lol. I know only two of the authors and it's been at least thirty years since I read anything by those two. Heinlein and Foster.

3) Since Gary has topics going concerning Koontz and King, maybe it would be fun to use a "favorite characters poll" from their books. Or "favorite book poll" by the authors. Something like that. Just a suggestion.

1) If an article has zero stars, none, nada, starless, and I click on five stars, then why does the article then show only three stars? I have clicked on a number of zero starred stories and only three stars are shown. I understand the average; so if one person clicks five stars on a story that has zero stars, then the average is three? I should have asked it this way orginally.

2) Still doesn't help. lol. I know only two of the authors and it's been at least thirty years since I read anything by those two. Heinlein and Foster.

3) Since Gary has topics going concerning Koontz and King, maybe it would be fun to use a "favorite characters poll" from their books. Or "favorite book poll" by the authors. Something like that. Just a suggestion.

1) Yep, you got it

2) Good idea. Now all I need is a list of the characters.

1) Got what? I don't understand. One article with zero stars and then one person clicking five stars does not average out to being less than five stars. It still should be five stars.

Or have you programmed it so that anything clicked over five stars automatically comes up to three stars? I've clicked many a story with five stars and if you look at any of them, none of the stories have more than two stars. Most have one star.

1) If an article has zero stars, none, nada, starless, and I click on five stars, then why does the article then show only three stars? I have clicked on a number of zero starred stories and only three stars are shown. I understand the average; so if one person clicks five stars on a story that has zero stars, then the average is three? I should have asked it this way orginally.

2) Still doesn't help. lol. I know only two of the authors and it's been at least thirty years since I read anything by those two. Heinlein and Foster.

3) Since Gary has topics going concerning Koontz and King, maybe it would be fun to use a "favorite characters poll" from their books. Or "favorite book poll" by the authors. Something like that. Just a suggestion.

1) Yep, you got it

2) Good idea. Now all I need is a list of the characters.

1) Got what? I don't understand. One article with zero stars and then one person clicking five stars does not average out to being less than five stars. It still should be five stars.

Or have you programmed it so that anything clicked over five stars automatically comes up to three stars? I've clicked many a story with five stars and if you look at any of them, none of the stories have more than two stars. Most have one star.

Avg 0 and 5 = 3That's how it is set up. It's part of the module itself.I looked at changing it but the code got a little too strange for me.

1) If an article has zero stars, none, nada, starless, and I click on five stars, then why does the article then show only three stars? I have clicked on a number of zero starred stories and only three stars are shown. I understand the average; so if one person clicks five stars on a story that has zero stars, then the average is three? I should have asked it this way orginally.

2) Still doesn't help. lol. I know only two of the authors and it's been at least thirty years since I read anything by those two. Heinlein and Foster.

3) Since Gary has topics going concerning Koontz and King, maybe it would be fun to use a "favorite characters poll" from their books. Or "favorite book poll" by the authors. Something like that. Just a suggestion.

1) Yep, you got it

2) Good idea. Now all I need is a list of the characters.

1) Got what? I don't understand. One article with zero stars and then one person clicking five stars does not average out to being less than five stars. It still should be five stars.

Or have you programmed it so that anything clicked over five stars automatically comes up to three stars? I've clicked many a story with five stars and if you look at any of them, none of the stories have more than two stars. Most have one star.

Avg 0 and 5 = 3That's how it is set up. It's part of the module itself.I looked at changing it but the code got a little too strange for me.

Hmmm. That kind of negates the five stars because there would be no way to ever receive four or five stars. I mean, I'm just a reader, not a writer, as my horrible attempt demonstrated. lol. I'm just trying to be a voice for the contestants who seem not to be speaking up about anything at all. Not trying to ruffle any feathers.

I for one appreciate you asking about this. I've wondered about it since I first submitted a contest story awhile back but never asked. I couldn't make sense of how the voting worked then and just decided not to worry about the results or put much stock in them. I wasn't even sure if 5 stars was supposed to be the best rating or 1 star. Most 1st place stories over the last few years have only 2 stars, but 2nd and 3rd place stories have the same.

How does a story get a zero anyway. Zero is not an option when voting. I see 1-5 as rating options. Does a story get a zero if someone clicks to rate the story but doesn't check 1-5? If all stories start off with a 0 score which is averaged into the voting results of any actual readers, then the resulting score is not a very accurate reflection of the readers' opinion in my humble opinion. ;)

I'm not trying to disparage the contest or admins here. I'm just seconding Monsoonstar's questions. This is a great contest, and though I don't submit very often I do check in to see what the topic is and read some great stories.

I for one appreciate you asking about this. I've wondered about it since I first submitted a contest story awhile back but never asked. I couldn't make sense of how the voting worked then and just decided not to worry about the results or put much stock in them. I wasn't even sure if 5 stars was supposed to be the best rating or 1 star. Most 1st place stories over the last few years have only 2 stars, but 2nd and 3rd place stories have the same.

How does a story get a zero anyway. Zero is not an option when voting. I see 1-5 as rating options. Does a story get a zero if someone clicks to rate the story but doesn't check 1-5? If all stories start off with a 0 score which is averaged into the voting results of any actual readers, then the resulting score is not a very accurate reflection of the readers' opinion in my humble opinion. ;)

I'm not trying to disparage the contest or admins here. I'm just seconding Monsoonstar's questions. This is a great contest, and though I don't submit very often I do check in to see what the topic is and read some great stories.

--John

I have to agree the module isn't the best at a true reflection of the ratings. If nobody votes you can end up with a 0.If everybody gives you a 5 it will still average it with the starting rating of 0 so I'm not sure it is possible to actually get a 5.

But that is how the program is written. I'm just not good enough at PHP to rewrite it to be more accurate.

The problem is, zero stars is the baseline that the algorhythm is set to start with, and it is considered a vote even though it isn't. Thusly, if the first vote is 5 stars, the algorhythm does an average and comes up with 0 stars plus 5 stars divided by two votes equals 2.5 stars.

It's a stupid programming error made by some idiot flunky from the original group that designed YABB.

Here's something I thought was interesting. About science-fiction conventions ---

Have you heard of the website called Second Life? If not -- it's a site where you go on and make a character that is supposed to be you. Then you take part in all the stuff that goes on there -- go to parks, nightclubs, start a business, etc. Since Second Life started a couple of years ago, it has become like The Reason For Life for some people.

Anyway, one of the "businesses" there is a cafe that is hosting the Second Life Science Fiction convention. They are having five speakers, representing the five continents of the world. I didn't know the speakers representing China, India, etc., but we all know the one representing the Americas, North and South -- Anotherealm's own Ahmed A. Khan!